Dispute Resolution Committee (formerly known as the Civil Litigation Sub-Committee)
Areas Covered
The Dispute Resolution Committee has a large membership, who between them cover a range of civil litigation areas, from both Claimant and Defendant perspectives. They include:
- Personal Injury
- Commerical Litigation
- Mediation
- Debt work
- Insolvency
- Housing
I see the main tasks of the Dispute Resolution Committee as being:
1) Representing our members at meetings, such as the Civil Court Users meeting and ensure that the views of practitioners are made known and taken into account.
2) Reviewing government consultation papers and responding, when appropriate, so that our views are heard on a national level as well as locally. The evidence that notice is taken of our responses is that Lord Justice Jackson specifically asked to meet Sally Raeburn, immediate past Chair of this committee, who sent in the Society’s response on a Cost Capping paper, when he came to Liverpool on a fact-finding mission in February 2009.
3) Keeping members informed of new developments in legislation and the practice of civil litigation – and any potential changes that are being considered.
4) Liaising with Jo Downey, the Society’s Director of Education and Training, to plan any Civil Litigation Conferences, such as those on Personal Injury and Costs, and advise her on relevant seminar and course topics.
5) Helping out with events such as preparing questions for the Judges for the Judges’ Forum. As you can see from this I have a busy year ahead of me.
My aims and objectives are to maintain the high standard of representation and information that Liverpool Law Society civil litigators have been used to, and build on the great reputation that local solicitors have for their litigation skills.
Caroline Ashcroft - Chair, Dispute Resolution Committee
Open Invitation to non PI Lawyers
Currently the Dispute Resolution Committee has 26 members and is one of Liverpool Law Society’s largest and most active committees. The committee was renamed last year after being known as the Civil Litigation Committee for many years as the area of law it covers is wider than this. The areas are from both Claimant and Defendant perspectives and they include:
Personal Injury
Commercial Litigation
Mediation
Debt Work
Insolvency
Housing
It is hoped more non PI lawyers will apply to sit on this sub committee.
Many solicitors use the courts to act on behalf of their clients and the courts’ business is a main topic of discussion in this committee (as well as contributing to the annual PI Conferences). Problems are highlighted and brought to the attention of those at H.C.M.S for resolution. Also ‘open’ consultation papers are discussed and actioned by those attending committee meetings.
All you need to do to be co-opted onto the committee is to write to Mrs Glenys Hunt at
committees@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk. Once approved for co-option, your details will be added onto the Committee’s email distribution list so that you receive notifications for future meetings.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Success has been achieved by the committee with regard to rates of remuneration allowed on taxation, listings and delays at court.
Please Click Here to view the New Consent Order Direction (PDF)
Please Click Here to view the Liverpool Civil and Family Court direct dial phone numbers (PDF)
The Guideline Hourly Rates are as follows:
| |
Band A |
Band B |
Band C |
Band D |
| London 1 |
409 |
296 |
226 |
138 |
| London 2 |
317 |
242 |
196 |
126 |
| London 3 |
229-267 |
172-229 |
165 |
121 |
| National 1 |
217 |
192 |
161 |
118 |
| National 2 |
201 |
177 |
146 |
111 |
|
The rates for London 3, Bands A and B are presented as ranges following the format of The Guide to the Summary Assessment of Costs. These ranges go some way towards reflecting the wide range of work types transacted in these areas.
|
The Court has provided practitioners with a specific email address for High Court Civil Listing. This email address is only to be used for e-mailing documents & orders for referral to the High Court Judge dealing with civil matters. Click Here to open your email program and obtain the address.
Please Click Here to access the Civil Court questionnaire (PDF)
LIVERPOOL COUNTY COURT
REPORT BY PRESIDENT ON CIVIL COURT USER’S MEETING - 2 AUGUST 2011
These are some of the matters raised:
♦ No plans to reduce Court sitting time in August despite the Court opening hours being shortened during the August period.
♦ Proceedings issued out of Salford are taking weeks to report because of the huge number of cases now being sent to them. A report has been received to show a significant slow down in issue time. This is being addressed.
♦ The number of inappropriate faxes over the last 18 months has gone down from 73 a day to 37 a day. Defaulters tend not to come from local practitioners. There will be a change in the rules concerning Salford becoming a Court office. At the moment it is a business centre.
♦ Reminder that as to documents to be sent to Salford:-
(a) Claim Form
(b) Particulars of Claim
(c) Acknowledgment of Service
(d) Application for Default Judgment
(e) Allocation Questionnaire
♦ Certificate of Service to be sent to Salford
♦ The Court believes that there should be a turnaround of proceedings within 2 or 3 days
♦ The Court reported His Honour Judge Baird has a TCC Ticket and takes up post on 17 October 2011. His role will be 50 / 50 Liverpool / Manchester. There will then be two Judges to deal with TCC work including the DCJ.
♦ The Judge reported there will be a huge sea change as to procedures as compulsory mediation will be coming into effect shortly
♦ Advocates room being taken up by Personal Support Unit. Not legally qualified but there to support litigants in person.
Note: They are not McKenzie friends. Function to direct the CAB Advisors where legal advice is required. Their role will be confidential and sensitive in nature.
This conversion of the Advocates room is in the planning stage, no date yet fixed for conversion.
♦ Court not happy about applications for late adjournments. All applications will be scrutinised by the Judge and cannot be dealt with by consent. Accordingly applications to vacate Case Management Conferences and hearings will not be allowed without judicial approval.
♦ Court reminded all parties to co‑operate concerning liaising over ensuring proper time estimates for hearings to avoid adjournments. It is the duty of an applicant to check before an application is made to find out if it would be opposed so as to ensure appropriate time is allowed rather than putting in a short time knowing full well this would be insufficient where they suspect the application is likely to be contested. The Court will be scrutinising the conduct of the parties where there has been this failure to co‑operate as the Court is mindful of saving Court time and not allowing adjournments through inadequate time because of the failure to properly time estimate in the first place.
♦ It is accepted that two to three weeks delay in drawing up an order needs to be improved. They are concentrating on reducing this time and working on delays so that carriage of orders by the parties improves the time turnaround.
♦ When documents sent in should be in word format, not pdf.
♦ If Trial Bundle lodged, it should not be a word document but in paper form.
